Pride Goeth Before the Fall
by Fish Stick Friday
Summary: Inspired by "Big Time Move." Logan's sharp tongue gets him in trouble with half of the varsity wrestling team. The "Neanderthals" decide to make an example out of Logan. When Logan doesn't show up for lunch, Kendall fears something happened to Logan.


**A/N: For all of you who have been trying to convert me to Kogan, and you know who you are, this is for you.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own chizz.**

**Pride Goeth Before the Fall**

Fifteen-year-old Logan Mitchell just finished showering after P.E. class. After dressing, he went to put on his sneakers. When his foot touched the bottom, a warm, wet liquid inside his sneaker soaked through the thin fabric of his sock and Logan cringed when the substance covered the bottom of his foot.

Logan could hear the varsity wrestling team snickering. He chanced a glance at them, and he could see them laughing, pointing, and giving each other celebratory high fives. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time something like this has happened. For whatever reason, the varsity wrestling team loved making Logan's life at school a living hell.

He wished that one of his three best friends, Kendall, James, or Carlos had P.E. class with him. Maybe if they did, then the wrestling team would leave him alone. However, they didn't, so it was rather pointless for Logan to wish for such a thing. He balled his hands up into fists.

"Aw, did we make the wittle baby upset?" the captain of the wrestling team leered, marching up to Logan and shoving him roughly into his locker.

The captain of the wrestling team was a senior. At 6'5," he towered over Logan. He weighed 230 lbs. He had a buzz cut and blonde hair. He was easily twice Logan's size. He had cauliflower ears due to him being a wrestler.

"You guys are a bunch of Neanderthals!" Logan commented.

The wrestling team traded baffled expressions with one another, their eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"What did you just call us?" the wrestling captain demanded, shoving Logan into his locker once more.

Logan winced as the back of his skull hit the metal surface with dizzying force. Automatically, he checked to see if he was bleeding, and was relieved to discover that he wasn't.

Summoning up confidence he didn't know he possessed, Logan responded, "Let me dumb it down for you. Basically, it means you guys are big and stupid!"

"Someone is just looking for a beating. You do know that there are six of us and only one of you, right?" the wrestling captain asked smugly.

Logan gulped nervously as he noticed how the jocks had him trapped; three in front of him, and three behind him.

"Maybe you should call up some of your lackeys so it will be a fair fight…for you," Logan remarked.

The wrestling captain laughed a booming laugh.

"Did you hear Mr. Tough Guy here? I'm gonna enjoy this. Let's get him, boys," he commanded.

XXXXX

Kendall was seated in the cafeteria for lunch. His eyes were glued to the door, wondering when Logan would show up. His eyes left the door momentarily to find a clock, and saw that Logan was ten minutes late already. Logan was never late for anything.

Kendall and Logan had the same lunch period just as Carlos and James had the same lunch period. Kendall knew what class Logan had before lunch too; P.E. He also was aware that some of the wrestling team were in Logan's P.E. class, and he was their favorite victim.

"Logan, where are you?" Kendall said out loud, his voice laden with worry.

He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was terribly wrong. Logan had gained a reputation as a geek, a nerd, a dork. Everyone in school knew how brilliant he was. However, brilliant did not mean popular. Quite the opposite.

Kendall wished that he and Logan could have the exact same schedule; that way he could always keep an eye on him. He knew that James and Carlos felt the same way. It was different for Kendall though; while Carlos and James didn't want to see Logan get hurt, Kendall felt _responsible _for Logan. After all, he was kind of the leader of their group. He had kind of taken up the mantle as protector of the group.

It was never easy to find Logan beaten to a pulp after school, before school, during lunch, or in between classes. Contrary to popular belief, it didn't get easier over time either. Kendall was surprised Logan continued to come to school at all. Then again, Logan probably didn't want to ruin his perfect attendance record. Besides, Logan wasn't _completely_ alone at school; he had three reasons to come to school.

Kendall shoved his untouched tray of food away from him, as he bolted to his feet. He shouldered his backpack, and headed for the guys' locker room. If Kendall was a betting man, _that_ was where Logan was.

"Please be okay, Logie!" Kendall commented out loud.

XXXXX

Logan curled up in a fetal position on the locker room floor as the six jocks mercilessly kicked him. Every square inch of his body felt as though it had been set ablaze. He was pretty sure that he had some cracked ribs; some might even be broken. Even doing something as simple as breathing caused his ribs to protest.

There were two particularly pronounced welts on Logan, one under each of his eyes. The skin had ballooned up and was a hodgepodge of various hues of purple and blue to go along with the black.

Logan wasn't surehow long his beating had been going on, but it felt like an eternity. However, that wasn't even the worst part; the worst part was that there seemed to be no end anytime in the foreseeable future.

This wouldn't have been so humiliating if he had actually been able to get a hit in. Unfortunately for Logan, he had no such luck. They had descended upon him like he was some scrap of meat and they were a rabid pack of wolves.

Though his eyes filled with tears, Logan was not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing him cry. He bit down hard on his bottom lip in a last ditch effort to keep his impending tears at bay. Soon there was a metallic taste in his mouth.

Despite the immense amount of pain he was currently experiencing, Logan laughed a humorless laugh, and continued to taunt his tormentors.

"Is that all you got? My grandma can hit harder than you!" Logan remarked, now on all fours.

A swift kick to his exposed ribcage lifted Logan clean off the floor, and left him gasping for air, and clutching his newest injury in agony. He tried to pick himself up off the ground, but found that feat to be increasingly difficult the longer this mauling went on.

"Give him here," the wrestling captain said, standing atop one of the wooden benches.

Logan's head was wedged between the gargantuan jock's knees. The behemoth grabbed Logan around the waist, hoisting him up until their two bodies were parallel; The smaller boy was upside down, his legs extended, the backs of his thighs pressed against the wrestling captain's face.

"This move is banned in wrestling matches because it's too dangerous, but this isn't a wrestling match, so there's nothing stopping me from using it now," the goliath stated. "It's called a piledriver."

The wrestling captain sat down on the shoddy bench, legs straight out with such force that the bench split in half. Splinters of various sizes embedded themselves in the top of Logan's skull, causing a thin ribbon of crimson liquid to ooze out. Logan's whole body went slack after his neck received the brunt of the impact, and bent in a way necks aren't supposed to bend.

"Come on! Let's go!" the wrestling captain commanded, eyes wide with panic as they fled the scene.

XXXXX

Kendall saw a half dozen jocks on the varsity wrestling team scramble out of the guys' locker room, practically tripping over their own feet they were in such a hurry. If Kendall wasn't worried about Logan before, he _definitely _was now. He ran as fast as his long legs could possibly carry him.

"Logan? Logan, where are you?" Kendall shouted.

His eyes darted around the room in a frantic search for his presumably hurt Logan. He tried not to think worst-case scenario, but he could hardly stop himself. It had to have been bad for the wrestling team to vacate the premises with such haste. But how bad was it exactly? Was Logan…Kendall's eyes started to get moist at the horrifying thought…even still alive?

"Over here," came Logan's frail response.

Kendall breathed a small sigh of relief. Logan was answering him. That was a good sign, right? Maybe Kendall had nothing to worry about after all. Maybe it was all in his head. He followed the sound of Logan's voice, and when he saw Logan laying haphazardly over the remnants of the wooden bench, Kendall's eyes bugged out, and he gasped in horror.

Kendall was instantly at Logan's side. As he went to cradle his head in his lap, Logan stopped him.

"No! Don't!" Logan screamed with authority that was foreign to Kendall. "Don't move me until I get a neck brace. We don't want to risk paralysis."

Neck brace? Paralysis? Kendall's lips trembled as a solitary tear trickled down his left cheekbone. That would explain why Logan wasn't moving. Wait. Why wasn't he moving? His palms were open, but his fingers weren't even twitching the slightest.

"Kendall?" Logan asked in a voice that resembled more of a frightened five-year-old than a fifteen-year-old. His courage from before had long since evaporated. "I'm scared."

Kendall held Logan's hand, all the while trying not to think anything about how Logan couldn't even squeeze back. Kendall's vision was suddenly marred by a haze of tears.

"It's okay. I'm right here, Logie, and I'm not leaving you," Kendall said, his voice cracking.

"Kendall? Why can't I move? Why can't I feel my fingers and toes?" Logan asked, his voice pitiful.

"I don't know, but it's going to be okay. _You_ are going to be okay. You _have_ to be."

XXXXX

The arrival of an ambulance had caused quite a commotion. Students and faculty alike had congregated in the parking lot hoping to get a better peek at whatever was going on. James and Carlos were among them.

Carlos stood on his tiptoes, craning his neck in an attempt to see over the sea of students and teachers. His somewhat short stature made that easier said than done though.

"I wonder what happened. Who got hurt?" James asked out loud.

"I heard some of the wrestling team beat a kid up pretty badly," Carlos replied, still struggling to see _something_, _anything_.

All the color drained from James' face. He stared straight ahead, his eyes not blinking. Carlos saw this, and waved his hand in front of James' face.

"Uh…James? Hello? What's gotten into you?" Carlos asked.

Before James could verbalize his response though, a stretcher was wheeled past them. It was their worst nightmare come true, for strapped down on the gurney was a battered and bruised Logan, who was sporting a bulky white neck brace. There were two paramedics on one side, and Kendall and a third paramedic on the other side.

Carlos grabbed Kendall's forearm, stopping the taller boy in his tracks.

"What happened? Is Logan okay?" Carlos inquired, tears springing to his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Carlos. I can't talk right now. I'm riding in the ambulance with Logan to the hospital. I'll see you there, okay?" Kendall answered, before rushing back to Logan's side.

XXXXX

After Logan's doctor told his mother that her son's neck wasn't broken; it would just be sore for about a week, and he would need to wear a neck brace as a safety precaution, Joanna Mitchell left to continue their discussion, giving Kendall and Logan some privacy.

"Well, that's a relief. I guess I was lucky," Logan commented.

Kendall glowered at Logan, a look of utter disbelief written all over his face.

"Lucky? Are you kidding me? You could have broken your neck, Logie! I swear once I get my hands on the wrestling team, they're going to have their jaws wired shut, and forced to drink their food through a straw!" Kendall said, livid.

Logan couldn't so much as move his neck, but he could move his eyes though, and he gave Kendall a sympathetic look.

"How are you holding up there, Kendall? Are you okay?" Logan questioned.

In spite of everything, Kendall laughed a genuine, honest to goodness laugh. Typical Logan. He's the one who got beat up, and he's asking Kendall if he's okay?

"What's so funny?" Logan asked out of curiosity.

"You," Kendall replied succinctly.

"What did I do?"

Kendall had no idea how Logan did it. Mere seconds ago, he was so furious he could have murdered the next person who entered the room, and now here he was _laughing_? Then, out of nowhere, his demeanor did a 180.

"I don't know what I would have done if I lost you, Logie," Kendall admitted.

This time it was Logan that held Kendall's hand. The two boys locked eyes with one another. Upon seeing the shiners on Logan's face, fury swirled around inside Kendall. They just served as a reminder that as fortunate as Logan was that his neck wasn't broken, he still came out of his encounter with the wrestling team worse for wear.

"But you didn't lose me. I'm right here," Logan replied, giving Kendall's hand a gentle squeeze.

Kendall turned his head away from Logan. He tried to blink back his tears. It wasn't long ago that Logan couldn't even squeeze his hand back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Logan asked.

"I feel like I should have done more. I should have come the second you didn't show up for lunch. Maybe if I had, this all could have been avoided. I feel like I let you down or something," Kendall confessed.

Logan wasn't oblivious. He knew that Kendall felt an overwhelming desire to protect him. He hated that Kendall felt somehow responsible for what happened to him. Logan was actually kind of glad that Kendall didn't come to his aid. Even though he might have been able to hold his own; after all, Kendall _does_ have anger management issues and can get pretty scary when mad; Logan knew that Kendall wouldn't have come out of the melee without a scratch, and he couldn't stand the thought of Kendall getting hurt because of him.

"Kendall, you're here now. That's all that matters," Logan replied.

**The End**

**A/N: Yeah, so I didn't really like how there was a reference in "Big Time Move" to James saving Logan from the wrestling team. I think that's more Kendall's job. Hence, this one-shot. Also, even though this is categorized as friendship, depending on what kind of glasses you wear while reading it, this might be considered slash. Kind of like with my innuendo stories, the ball's in your court; think whatever you want to think. I hope you liked this! **


End file.
